Three British military personnel accused of keeping dead Taliban insurgents’ body parts as “souvenirs” will not face charges due to a lack of evidence, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday.

The ministry said an independent investigation had found that no further action should be pursued over the allegations, which centred on a Scottish battalion’s tour of duty in Afghanistan between September 2010 and April 2011.The allegations included claims that dead Taliban fighters’ fingers were cut off and kept as “trophies”.

“After consideration, the director of Service Prosecutions directed that no charges should be brought against any of the three individuals, due to insufficient evidence,” the Ministry of Defence said.

It added that officials had considered taking “internal administrative action” against the three individuals, but that information relating to this was protected under data protection law.Britain still has around 9,000 troops in Afghanistan ahead of a scheduled withdrawal in 2014.